Show Notes - Week of March 8, 2021

Take that, winter!

Greetings from a day-after-daylight-savings 53.5° north latitude. There is still ice in alleys and on some roads and sheltered areas along the paths, but cycling became much more fun this last week. The average speed is increasing to a respectable number for the winter bike with studded tires, and the top-end speed is entering speeding ticket territory.

Beyond boring cycling statistics and a couple beers, there was not much to report this week. There is one follow-up to the Bill C-10 Broadcasting Act changes that I posted four weeks ago. Michael Geist posted an update on his blog this week and lamented that the bill continues to have "no firm thresholds, no rules on intellectual property, no exclusion of news, and nothing on Canadian ownership." Geist blasts the Liberals in his closing paragraph with this doozy of a sentence: "The amateurish release of the bill, the steady stream of blunders, and the absence of details all speak to a Minister and department that want a George W. Bush-like “Mission Accomplished” moment and then to quickly move onto the other issues, leaving the CRTC to clean up the mess." 

In case the Liberals do not get their Dubya moment, I will offer this up for them. (As a bonus, read the linked CBS article for a synopsis of the a reminder of that bit of spin doctoring.)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mission-accomplished-5-years-later/

New Beers:
Four new beers were tried this week, but none were homeruns unfortunately. That said, none of them were bad either but since all four beers were from my two favorite breweries, I was disappointed. 

Beer #736 was yet another from Collective Arts. This one was their IPA No. 14. I had their IPA No. 12 eleven months ago. While I am on the number theme, this is my seventeenth check-in for a beer from Collective Arts. Back to No. 14, there was lots of citrus and juice but it tasted more like pineapple to me than the grapefruit the label suggested. Lots of juice flavor regardless. The citrus, hops, and malt hid the high ABV nicely. (3.5 / 5)

Beer #737 continued the Collective Arts streak, now up to 18 unique check-ins on Untappd. The Grapefruit and Pomegranate Sour had a great color and aroma. I definitely picked up the grapefruit in this one as opposed to the IPA No. 14 I mentioned above. I did not get much of the pomegranate flavor though and the sour seemed somewhat like an afterthought unfortunately. It was okay, but that's it. (3.25)

Moving from Collective Arts to Alley Kat now. I picked up a four-pack with two different Alley of their latest Back Alley Brews. I am a big fan of their limited run BAB series, in particular the Ocean Pearl and Bob's Your Dunkel were great, so I definitely went into these two with high hopes. 

Beer #738 was the Alley Kat Highway to Helles, which I thought was a good pun until I searched on Untappd on got 58 hits. This was exactly what you should expect in a solid German lager. Crisp, clean, and clear. But it is styled after a German lager, which I find pretty dull unfortunately. Points for hitting the style though. (3.25 / 5)

Last up for the week, the sixtieth unique check-in from Alley Kay, and Beer #739 was their Red Demon Red Rice Lager. ​Definitely sensed the rice as soon as I raised the glass. Reminded me of drinking Japanese rice beers at Nomiya (which made me sad and nostalgic). Good for the style, but I guess I was hoping for more from the last Back Alley Brew. (3.25 / 5)